Looking back. And to the future…

So it is soon the time to say goodbye to another year.

(Unfortunately?) New Year’s Eve for me is due to be pretty much the same as every other night, a number of reasons meaning it is going to be a quiet night in with my man (going out for New Year is overrated anyway, right?). But I’m fine with this… It’s really just another day, a different date.

While I’m being all ‘old before my time’, I thought it would be nice(?) to look back at the past year, and also ahead at what 2011 might hold for me…

Toward the beginning of 2010, I was forced to say goodbye to my Granny. I still don’t feel as though I have properly gotten over this. Will I ever? I’ve lost friends and some family members before, but I think this was the first to truly, truly hit me. It was an is a difficult experience and I will miss her always.. x

I am always very grateful to all my wonderful friends, family and boyfriend for helping me through all difficult times!

After finishing my second year of University, I joined the team at the strategic marketing agency Cre8ive Wisdom for a summer work experience. I really enjoyed my time there and learnt a lot!

Also during the summer, my man and I moved into our first ‘just us’ home together, before celebrating our fourth ‘anniversary’! – Growing up!

I am now well into my third and final year of University – the biggie! And it is tough! Very stressful, but hopefully(!) rewarding… and hopefully(!?) it will all be worth it in the end! I know I will miss it when it’s over!

I’ve  recently turned 21, which means I am apparently now officially an adult… although I feel as though I am in a kind of ‘limbo’ between childhood and adulthood!

My 21st celebrations were the best – thanks to my lovely family, friends and boyfriend (and maybe a little tequila…!)

So, if all goes to plan, 2011 might well be quite a big year… We should see me graduating and starting my career in the big wide world of ‘Full Time Work’ (eek!) I’m definitely becoming a ‘grown up’!

I look forward to visiting my family up in Scotland in January – although it will be odd being there without seeing Granny, or her and my Grandad’s house which is so full of personal memories. I also can’t wait to have a good holiday after the months of stress still to come between now and May!

I’m sure 2011 will hold plenty more of exciting (and maybe some not so) moments for me, and everyone!

A word (or more) of advice…

What’s the best advice I’ve ever received?

Generally, to try not to worry about things so much – to think about instances as ‘if it’s going to happen, it’ll happen’ rather than wasting my life worrying about whether it will or not.

I’m not going to pretend I’m perfect and I actually use this advice all the time, I’m still a big worrier. But comparing my first year of uni to the second, I was a bit less stressed in the second year. By thinking I can only do my best, and if my best isn’t quite good enough, then there really isn’t much I can do about it, really. And worrying that it wouldn’t be doesn’t help one bit!

A Dolly pearl of wisdom

“The way I see it. if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain” – Dolly Parton.

This thinking has got me through quite a bit, remembering that not everything’s going to be fine and dandy all the time and you do have to work hard to get results.

University, assignments and exams, can cause me a lot of stress – the rain that I must go through to achieve the rainbow of good results and a great future.

I love this quote because it can be related to so many circumstances in life, everyone is bound to be caught in a downpour, but it helps realise that things will be okay in the end, we will see the rainbow

Blogging on the go-go

So this is just a small test using a newly downloaded WordPress app on the BlackBerry. Hi!

Huge apologies to my very pretty blog for abandoning it for a wee while. My summer is proving to be very busy indeed, with work placement, flat hunting & various other projects & arrangements.

As of yesterday we no longer need to hunt for a home, we have a brand spanking new flat to move into from the 29th. Which so perfectly fits into our kick-out day at the house being the 31st. It’s all pretty perfect, although it is a little empty… So now begins the hunt for a bed, sofa, fridge-freezer, wardrobe, washing machine etcetc. Pretty much everything! And it all needs to be free or as cheap as poss, for the time being!

S’all very exciting though : )

(Keep posted about my work placement at Cre8ive Wisdom on my daily Whizzkid’s words blog!)

Animation: [hetero'] gender stereotypes? (via The Third Word :):-)

Great vid made me chuckle!

Found this while looking for revision material. Yes on YouTube. What’s wrong with that? Anyway, it amused me because as much as I’d like to disagree with the simply animated and aptly orchestrated message, it wouldn’t be funny if it wasn’t largely true* That said, it may be more true for hetero[sexual]s than gays. Then again, there a … Read More

via The Third Word :-

Grazing through revision

I’ve found a new love/addiction: Graze

They send you a box small enough to fit through your letterbox full of yummy fruity, nutty and seedy bits to nibble on every week – or more if you want!

There’s a huge selection on the site which you can rate as to bin, try, like or love meaning you have some control over what is sent to you. But there’s still an element of surprise when that brown box pops through which I love!

At only £2.99 per box it’s a bit of a bargain for some healthy and yummy food to munch on!

… and with this code: 56YVPJX - you can get your first box FREE & second half price!

(there’s no ‘contract’ with Graze, you can cancel whenever you like… everyone likes a no-strings freebie!!)

Enjoy!

Feature article: Discover to rediscover

For the Professional Writing unit of BA (Hons) Communication and Media, I was asked to write a magazine feature about Bournemouth. I then created a double page spread for it using Photoshop and Adobe InDesign.

Magazine Layout, completed using Adobe InDesign

Being fairly new to Bournemouth, I haven’t really taken much time out to explore the area. Obviously I’ve been to the wonderful sandy beach (a massive upgrade to the stony seafront of my hometown, Bognor Regis) and experienced the array of pubs, clubs and restaurants, but it’s probably about time I acquainted myself with more than just the face of the town. Rather than only visiting the usual, in-your-face tourist attractions, I want to become a Bournemouth resident and see the places that far too many forget about, and newcomers or holiday-goers may not even know about.

I’m a fairly typical student, one such trait being that I am overly lazy. If I don’t have to leave the house during the day, then I’ll pretty much always be found dossing around the house in my finest monkey-covered fleece pyjamas. Being lazy is fine, now and again. But I recently found myself actually longing for some fresh air and exercise.

I dragged myself and the boyfriend out of bed on one of our rare days off together, to see what else Bournemouth could offer. It wasn’t particularly the best day to be out and about; in fact it got pretty awful as the day went on. April showers decided to show up slightly early, and in the form of constant heavy downpours. Being someone who tends to shy away from wet weather, I don’t really own much in the form of waterproof attire, but I wasn’t going to let the weather get in the way of my exploring! I had a browse on Google Maps for some greenery amongst the gloomy grey of buildings, roads and car parks, and off we went.

… To read the rest of the article click here…

…Or click here for the pdf…

Diary of a first-time voter

I was asked to blog ‘anonymously’ for Bournemouth Echo, sharing my thoughts as an undecided first-time voter during the run up to the elections.

I’ve written three  posts so far in the run up to the elections, and will be adding to it early next week and again after the election.

Anyway, I’ve decided to un-anonymous it so check it out!

DIARY OF A VOTER – BOURNEMOUTH ECHO

Thanks ladies & gents

Charlie Brooker tweets: "Front page of BBC site makes them resemble a choir singing about the finest boobs they ever saw"

Poole Park: A place for photos, peace and play

In an attempt to get a nice black and white photo of myself for my mum to match those of my siblings, The boyfriend and I took a trip to Poole Park armed with my poor quality camera phone & my 8mp Olympus with a flat battery and no black and white function.

A bit of a failure from the start, only adding to the fact that the only pictures of myself which I think are nice, are the ones which you can’t properly see my face.

So, I think it’s safe to say the aim to get a nice photo of myself was a failed attempt. We did, though, have a lovely walk around the lake and a bit of a play in the park and on the exercise equipment scattered around Poole Park.

A lovely place to go for a bit of a chill and some fresh air…  : )

HTML disasters – web designers take note!

Okay, so as I’ve recently started a Web Communications unit on my course at BU, I was looking into some small hints & tips for web design.

I was pointed toward this website, dedicated to showing all that’s so very wrong with many web pages out there in the mass that is cyberspace.

I’ve seen my fair share of bad websites in my internet-browsing lifetime. A web page needs to have a little excitement on it, as soon as a bland page loads I lose interest straight away. However, a busy website is much worse, in my opinion.

This, for example, is horrific.

I am completely bewildered by it, to be honest. I seriously think whoever put this together can’t have actually looked at it. Surely after seeing the mess they just produced they would realise it’s not fit for anyone to see. Ever. I mean, come on, the background was made in Paint, and what the hell is that thing moving around the page!? Oh yeah, and there’s the wonderful navigation and text all bundled on top of each other, WHAT!?

‘Web pages that suck‘ highlights problems that are commonly seen in and amongst the World Wide Web (the example above is an extreme) such as bad background-text contrasts and awkward or complex navigation. Websites should be simple, easy to grab ‘n’ go with just snippets of information you want. Many of the websites mentioned in ‘Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015‘ (No idea how they know the future?) have just small problems, just in need of a few tweaks in order to produce an, at least, usable page. Although, as we’ve seen from Yvette’s bridal thingy, some just need to be binned.

Oh gosh, I’ve had the volume on my laptop turned down until now, still with Yvette’s awful excuse for a website open on another tab…

THERE’S MUSIC PLAYING AT ME. Worst. Thing. Ever!

So, I think I can safely conclude from this that there is still very much a place for web redesigners…

And web police? Please!

I’ll leave you with this, another gem I managed to find on ‘Web pages that suck’ (where else?). I’m sure you’ll love it just as much as me (:

Mind your eyes!